Based in Pheasant Creek near Kinglake West, Murrindindi Ranges Wildlife Shelter offers a wildlife rescue service, rehabilitating viable animals or placing animals with specialist carers.
Shelter operator and veterinary technician Kate Turner said her shelter cares for injured and/or orphaned Australian native wildlife from a large area of Victoria, from Werribee to Wodonga.
“On average, we get four cases a day. We’ve had at least 950 cases this year,” she said.
About 60 animals, including kangaroos, ringtail possums, echidnas, wombats and birds, are in care in the shelter.
Ms Turner also helps Healesville Sanctuary to look after animals when the sanctuary has no capacity to house them.
In June, she was contacted by one of the vet nurses at Healesville Sanctuary who asked her if Murrindindi Ranges Wildlife Shelter could help house adult kangaroos taken to the sanctuary for treatment.
“Because (Healesville Sanctuary) doesn’t have the facilities to house adult kangaroos, (the vet nurse) asked me if I could take them and monitor them for a period of time until they were right to be released again,” the Murrindindi Ranges Wildlife Shelter operator said.
“The kangaroos have been released. They’ve gone back to the wild after a course of antibiotics.”
Murrindindi Ranges Wildlife Shelter is now raising funds to purchase equipment and upgrade facilities to provide better care to the animals in the shelter.
Ms Turner has been fundraising for a mobile X-ray unit for the past two years.
By having a complete portable unit, she won’t have to drive far and carry the heavy animals to the rescue car to transport them to a clinic.
“If I get a call to a kangaroo at nine o’clock at night that’s been hit by a car, but there’s no obvious injuries, I can take the X-ray right then and there and send the images to vets,” Ms Turner said.
“I’ve got a bunch of vets who are more than happy to look at images I send them on the phones when they’re at home with their families.”
The other two things on the list are upgrading flooring and replacing the recue vehicle.
“We need to get flooring done in our stables that house the adult roos,”Ms Turner said.
“That’s rubber matting, It’s a bit easier for them to stand on it and also increase traction as well as comfort, and that will hopefully reduce the amount of hay we have to use, which will save us money in the long run.
“We also need to replace our rescue vehicle. Our one has over 400,000km on it.”
Find out more about Murrindindi Ranges Wildlife Shelter and how to donate to the shelter on its website at murrindindirangeswildlifeshelt.godaddysites.com or its Facebook page at facebook.com/MRWSInc
